Happy Feet
Seen 19 November 2006 at Regal Fenway 13
* * * * (out of 5)
I love penguins. Let’s make that clear. So I was somewhat predetermined to love this one. I AM its ideal audience: I love penguins, computer animation, crude humor, family humor… and penguins. So I have to say I’m a little disappointed that I’m not lobbying for the right to post a 38-star review. As much fun as I had with this one, it ain’t worth that.
This is probably the downright cutest movie I’ve seen in some time, easily topping anything from Over the Hedge that had Hammy in it. And it does so with no apology whatsoever. Which is perfectly fine, as far as I am concerned. The kids need something too. And that cuteness will actually drive it for adults to a certain extent as well. No one can argue that the country has been in penguin mode since March of the Penguins, and Happy Feet cashes in with efficiency and style. In the end, it just pushes a little too hard.
The fluffy, tap-dancing baby penguin we’ve all seen in those sugar coma-inducing trailers is Mumbles (Elijah Wood), the newborn son of Memphis (Hugh Jackman doing his best Elvis) and Norma Jean (Nicole Kidman doing a pretty damn good Marilyn Monroe). For whatever reason, Mumbles cannot sing, which the main way penguins find and identify a mate. But he can tap dance like a sonofabitch. In his attempts to woo Gloria (Brittany Murphy), the most beautiful penguin on the glacier, he pisses off just about everyone else, and is exiled from the colony. He runs into five adelie penguins (Robin Williams and friends) that become friends and support as he tries to redeem himself, and win the love of his preferred penguin.
Read the rest at HBS!
* * * * (out of 5)
I love penguins. Let’s make that clear. So I was somewhat predetermined to love this one. I AM its ideal audience: I love penguins, computer animation, crude humor, family humor… and penguins. So I have to say I’m a little disappointed that I’m not lobbying for the right to post a 38-star review. As much fun as I had with this one, it ain’t worth that.
This is probably the downright cutest movie I’ve seen in some time, easily topping anything from Over the Hedge that had Hammy in it. And it does so with no apology whatsoever. Which is perfectly fine, as far as I am concerned. The kids need something too. And that cuteness will actually drive it for adults to a certain extent as well. No one can argue that the country has been in penguin mode since March of the Penguins, and Happy Feet cashes in with efficiency and style. In the end, it just pushes a little too hard.
The fluffy, tap-dancing baby penguin we’ve all seen in those sugar coma-inducing trailers is Mumbles (Elijah Wood), the newborn son of Memphis (Hugh Jackman doing his best Elvis) and Norma Jean (Nicole Kidman doing a pretty damn good Marilyn Monroe). For whatever reason, Mumbles cannot sing, which the main way penguins find and identify a mate. But he can tap dance like a sonofabitch. In his attempts to woo Gloria (Brittany Murphy), the most beautiful penguin on the glacier, he pisses off just about everyone else, and is exiled from the colony. He runs into five adelie penguins (Robin Williams and friends) that become friends and support as he tries to redeem himself, and win the love of his preferred penguin.
Read the rest at HBS!
posted by Matt S. at
9:44 AM
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